Engineering mechanics programs prepare people to use math and science to solve problems in mechanics. Students learn about forces and materials. They also learn about kinetics, dynamics, and stress.

What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? That's an old philosophical question. In engineering mechanics, you deal with real-life questions. You study real forces and how they act on real objects.

You study forces that are at work in a body at rest. For example, think of the forces at work on a highway overpass: the weight of the structure, the varying load of the cars and trucks, even the force of the wind. You calculate how the overpass sags and springs back. You also study bodies in motion, such as a boat slicing through the water.

Of course, the effects of forces vary according to the material receiving the force. So you study the properties of materials. For example, you might calculate how much bending to expect in a pillar made of steel, or concrete, or reinforced concrete, given a certain amount of force. For a complex mechanical system, you create a simulation on a computer. This helps you work out the calculations and see what results when you change various parts of the system.

You can expect to find employment after earning a bachelor's degree in this field. This takes four, perhaps five years of full-time study beyond high school. About 15 colleges in the U.S. offer this major. In other colleges you can major in a related engineering field and take as many mechanics-related courses as possible.

In addition, traditional master's and doctorate degrees are offered in this field. In fact, more schools offer master's in this field than bachelor's degrees. In general, master's degrees take two years to complete, and doctorate degrees take another three to five.